Canvas is used in the marine industry and in many other industries as well for a multitude of purposes. In many applications, the canvas is used to cover an open compartment or to simply provide shade. In some applications, there is a need to releasably attach it to a hard surface such as the deck of a boat. In other applications, it may be attached to a frame, and in some applications, there is a need to attach it to another flexible material.
The two fasteners most commonly used for releasably retaining canvas or other cloth materials are known as the "common sense" fastener and the "snap" fastener. Both do an adequate job of holding canvas or other cloth to a deck or other surface, but each has at least one disadvantage. More specifically, the common sense fastener has an upwardly extending protuberance that can injure an individual who steps on or bumps against it. The snap fastener is not dangerous if stepped on or bumped against, but it is sometimes very difficult to release, is subject to corrosion, and is sensitive to dirt. More importantly, snap fasteners have poor resistance to a straight outward pull, and they do not capture the cloth very well. Additionally, the snap fastener can be released only by pulling directly on the canvas, cloth, or other material; this is undesirable because if the fastener is stuck and the material is worn, the material may tear before the fastener releases.
Numerous inventors have turned their attention to fasteners and have developed many different types thereof. Some of the new fasteners mar adjacent surfaces, and some of them are just as weak and unreliable as the fasteners they were intended to replace. Some of them avoid trauma-inflicting protrusions, but lack the all-important quick release feature, and so on.
A fastener that has the desirable attributes of the ubiquitous snap fastener and common sense fastener and that is free of their undesirable attributes, however, has heretofore alluded those of ordinary skill in this art and all inventors as well.